Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to neurostimulation (NS), and more particularly to delivering interleaved neurostimulation of multiple therapies.
NS systems are devices that generate electrical pulses and deliver the pulses to nervous tissue to treat a variety of disorders. For example, spinal cord stimulation has been used to treat chronic and intractable pain. Another example is deep brain stimulation, which has been used to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and affective disorders such as depression. SCS therapy, delivered via epidurally implanted electrodes, is a widely used treatment for chronic intractable neuropathic pain of different origins. Another stimulation configuration include burst stimulation in which sets of pulses are closely spaced.
More recently, NS systems have been developed that deliver separate stimulation therapies to nervous tissue of interest associated with separate and distinct regions of the body (also referred to as dual therapy neural stimulation systems). The NS systems utilize a lead having one or more arrays of electrodes provided thereon. One combination of electrodes is utilized to deliver a first stimulation therapy intended to act upon a first region of nervous tissue to cause a desired effect at a first body region. The same or a different combination of electrodes is utilized to deliver a second stimulation therapy configured to act upon a second region and nervous tissue to cause a desired effect at a second body region.
However, conventional neural stimulation systems exhibit limitations. For example, existing dual therapy neural stimulation systems require a separate pulse generating circuit to be utilized in connection with each stimulation therapy. Therefore, in a system designed to provide to stimulation therapies to two discrete body regions, the neural stimulation system must include two separate pulse generating circuits, along with the associated supporting electronics. Similarly, systems designed to provide more than two stimulation therapies must include a corresponding number of pulse generating circuits. With each additional pulse generating circuit, the neural stimulation system becomes larger in size and demands more power, thereby exhibiting a shorter battery life.
A need remains for methods for methods and systems that delivers multiple stimulation therapies from a common pulse generating circuit, as well as methods and systems that are able to calculate a composite pulse sequence to be generated by a common pulse generating circuit, where the composite pulse sequence is able to target multiple regions of nerve tissue of interest.